Jason Shinder
Jason Shinder (October 19, 1955 - April 25, 2008) was an American poet, who founded the YMCA National Writer's Voice.Margalit Fox, "Jason Shinder, 52, Poet and Founder of Arts Program, Dies," New York Times, May 3, 2008. Web, Nov. 24, 2015. Life Shinder was born in Brooklyn, New York City. He published his earliest literary work in 1993, the poetry collection Every Room We Ever Slept In, which became a New York Public Library Notable Book.Jason Shinder, Academy of American Poets, Poets.org, Web, Feb. 5, 2012. He went on to author Among Women and Uncertain Hours, he also edited numerous anthologies, including The Poem That Changed America: "Howl" Fifty Years Later, and The Poem I Turn To: Actors and directors present poetry that inspires them. In addition to founding and directing the National Writer's Voice, Shinder also served as director of the Sundance Institute Writing Program, as a teacher in the graduate writing program at Bennington College, as a graduate teacher at New School University. Shinder died in April 2008. His last book, Stupid Hope (Graywolf Press, 2009), was released posthumously. He had been ill for several years with lymphoma and leukemia. “Cancer is a tremendous opportunity,” he said, philosophically, “to have your face pressed right up against the glass of your mortality.” Seeing cancer as a spiritual avenue was unfortunately incompatible with seeing illness as an ill: a problem to be combated with medical science. For half a year he was vaguely troubled by lumps in his throat before he got around to seeing an internist. The doctors wanted to start chemotherapy, he told me, but he didn’t want to ruin the summer — he had plans to go on a writing retreat in Greece and to spend time at his house on the Cape. He was careless with his medication; he was perpetually late to treatment; in the hours before chemotherapy, he could be found ice-skating with a date who didn’t know he was sick. Writing “We were all maddened by his denial about his illness,” his friend the poet Marie Howe says, “but when we read the poems and his journals after his death, we saw that he had been addressing it in a way he could never say in life.” In his brief poem “Company,” he writes: I’ve been avoiding my illness because I’m afraid I will die and when I do, I’ll end up alone again. Recognition Shinder's awards include a 2007 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a term as Poet Laureate of Provincetown, Massachusetts. Publications Poetry *''End of the Highest Balcony''. Fort Wayne, IN: The Windless Orchard, 1978. * Every Room We Ever Slept In. Riverdale-on-Hudson, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 1993. Fort Wayne, IN: The Windless Orchard, 1978. * Among Women: Poems. Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 2001. *''Arrow Breaking Apart'' (chapbook). Boston: Arrowsmith, 2006. * Stupid Hope: Poems. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2009. Non-fiction *''The First-Book Market: Where and how to publish your first book and make it a success'' (with Amy Holman). New York: Macmillan, 1998; *also published as Get Your First Book Published: And make it a success (with Amy Holman & Jeff Herman). Franklin Lakes, NJ : Career Press, 2001. Edited *''The Imagining Head: Writings by children from East Hill Elementary School''. Fort Wayne, IN: The Windless Orchard, 1976. * Divided Light: Father and son poems: A twentieth century American anthology. New York: Sheep Meadow Press, 1983. *''First light: Mother & son poems: A twentieth-century American selection''. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. *''More light: Father & daughter poems: A twentieth-century American selection''. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1993. *''Eternal light: Grandparent poems: A twentieth-century American selection''. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1995. *''Lights, Camera, Poetry! American movie poems the first hundred years''. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1996. * Tales from the Couch: Writers on talk therapy. New York: Morrow, 2000. *''Birthday Poems: A celebration''. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002. * The Poem That Changed America: “Howl” fifty years later. New York: Farrar, Strauss, 2006. * The Poem I Turn To: Actors and directors present poems that inspire them (edited with Michael O'Keefe & Lili Taylor). Napierville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2008. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Jason Shinder, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 24, 2015. Audio / video * The Poem That Changed America: “Howl” fifty years later (CD). Princeton, NJ: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2006. See also * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems * [http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2007/10/01/071001po_poem_shinder The New Yorker > Poetry > Living by Jason Shinder > October 1, 2007] * Jason Shinder profile & 5 poems at the Academy of American Poets *Jason Shinder 1955-2008 at the Poetry Foundation ;Audio / video *Jason Shinder poems at YouTube ;About *"Jason Shinder, 52, Poet and Founder of Arts Program, Dies" obituary, New York Times * [http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/02/entertainment/ca-jason-shinder2 The Los Angeles Times > Book Review by David L. Ulin of Stupid Hope by Jason Shinder > August 2, 2009] Category:1955 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Writers from New York Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Bennington College faculty Category:The New School faculty Category:National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Category:The New Yorker people Category:21st-century poets Category:American poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Poets Laureate of Provincetown